Brazilian presidential candidate dies in plane crash

By Stan Lehman, Associated Press

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 | 9:53 a.m.

SAO PAULO — Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos died Wednesday when the small plane that was carrying him and several campaign officials plunged into a residential neighborhood in the port city of Santos, a City Hall official there said.

All seven people aboard the plane, including a campaign photographer and press advisor, as well as two pilots, died in the crash, City Hall press officer Patricia Fagueiro told The Associated Press. The Brazilian Socialist Party, or PSB, has yet to confirm that Campos was on the plane.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone on the ground was injured in the crash.

Television broadcasts showed wreckage smoldering among smashed buildings in a residential neighborhood.

Aeronautical authorities said the craft was attempting to land in bad weather.

The Brazilian Air Force reported the plane was a Cessna 560XL.

Opinion polls showed Campos running in third place, trailing incumbent President Dilma Rousseff and another candidate in October elections.